The nagging bank is on the line

BANK customers overdue on their credit card payments are to be harassed with automated phone calls telling them to pay up.

The idea is to help clients avoid more serious money problems but consumer groups say the computer calls will simply frighten people.

The technology, developed by UK company Adeptra, allows banks to trigger calls to thousands of people at the click of a mouse.

When they pick up the phone, customers hear a computer-generated voice which tells them they are receiving 'an important call from your bank'.

Next they are asked to confirm their identity, usually with the last four digits of their card number.

They are then given, for example, the warning: 'Our records show your credit card account is over-limit. In order to keep your account in good standing £100 is due immediately.'

The computer then asks the customer to make a payment while on the line, perhaps with a debit card. Adeptra claims banks are even looking at generating reminder calls about payments before they are due.

It says the system is good for banks because their call centre staff do not need to make repeated and awkward personal reminders.

The automatic calls are already being used in the US with the Wells Fargo and GE Capital banks.

Adeptra spokesman Phil Wilson said several British banks will introduce it over the next year.

The company, based in Reading, Berks, is already working with Halifax Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and Egg, the internet bank, using another aspect of the same technology.

This makes computer-generated calls to customers where unusual buying patterns have been noticed on credit and debit cards. The customer is asked to identify whether the spending is authorised or fraudulent.

Wilson said surveys suggest customers who are behind on payments are more comfortable hearing from a computer than a real person.

'There are no value judgments. Sometimes those conversations can be awkward. With a computer, no one is wagging their finger,' he said.

Eddy Wetherill, of the Independent Banking Advisory Service, warned: 'I think many people will feel harassed by these calls. There would have to be careful controls on how many calls can be made in a day or week.

'It seems to me this is all about putting the frighteners on customers to pay up.'

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